(CNN) - House Speaker John Boehner introduced the GOP's deficit-reduction proposal Monday, but not all Republicans are fully behind the offer–including the president of the conservative group FreedomWorks.

Washington (CNN) - House Speaker John Boehner blasted President Barack Obama following the White House's apparent rejection of the deficit reduction proposal he sent to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue on Monday.

"If the President really wants to avoid sending the economy over the fiscal cliff, he has done nothing to demonstrate it," Boehner said in a statement on Tuesday.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - In an extended television interview with Bloomberg News Tuesday, President Barack Obama said the "potential" for a deal to avoid the looming fiscal cliff remains, but that House Speaker John Boehner's initial offer is "still out of balance."

"The issue right now that's relevant is the acknowledgement that if we're going to raise revenues that are sufficient to balance with very tough cuts that we've already made and the further reforms in entitlements that I'm prepared to make, that we're going to have to see the rates on the top two percent go up and we're not going to be able to get a deal without it," the president said.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) – There are currently no behind-the-scenes talks or private communication between negotiators looking to reach a deal on avoiding the fiscal cliff, a senior Republican aide said Tuesday.

"No conversations today – no emails, tweets, carrier pigeons," the aide said. "The White House is making no effort to find a compromise to avert the fiscal cliff. We are ready to talk whenever they are ready to get serious."FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - Senate Republicans blocked ratification of a United Nations treaty aimed at promoting the rights of disabled people around the world, despite an appearance on the Senate floor by former Republican Sen. Bob Dole, in a wheelchair, making a last-minute effort to garner GOP support.

Conservatives warned it might allow the U.N. to impinge on the rights of disabled people and their families in the United States.FULL POST

(CNN) – Former President George W. Bush, who presided over the last attempt to pass comprehensive immigration reform in 2007, reiterated his belief Tuesday that immigrants are a beneficial and integral part of the American way of life.

"Immigrants come with new skills and new ideas. They fill a critical gap in our labor market. They work hard for a chance at a better life," Bush said in a short speech at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. He was speaking ahead of an event sponsored by the George W. Bush Institute spotlighting the positive economic impact of immigration.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado will serve as the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2014 cycle, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Tuesday.

The DSCC, a group tasked with getting Democrats elected to the Senate, was chaired by Sen. Patty Murray of Washington in the last cycle, one marked by a net gain of two seats for Democrats in the upper chamber.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - Sen. Jim DeMint, an influential conservative Republican from South Carolina, urged his party to take a firm stance against bringing in additional federal revenues in the current "fiscal cliff" negotiations.

"Republicans should not be conceding that the federal government needs more money, negotiating with ourselves, and treating the president's proposal like it's serious," he said.FULL POST

(CNN) - A bipartisan group of governors met with President Barack Obama Tuesday as the White House and congressional Republicans scramble to reach a deal on debt and deficit negotiations to avoid the year-end fiscal cliff.

Speaking outside the White House, the group of three Democratic and three Republican governors characterized the meeting as "positive" while pushing the White House to come to an agreement with Congressional Republicans as their own states' well-being hang in the balance of the contentious negotiations.FULL POST

Washintgon (CNN) - If insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result, then continuing negotiations on a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff might amount to little more than crazy talk.

The same players are arguing about the same issue - taxes - in a repeat of budget showdowns of the past two years that failed to reach a comprehensive agreement.